I love meeting cool new couples that are in love.  Keith and Ashley came to me as a referral from Rasheedah, someone from one of my Facebook networks.  When we met in person, I thought we hit it off pretty well, so I was excited when they decided to book me for their September wedding!  The are getting married at the Rankin Chapel on the campus of Howard University and while my alma mater is a rival of theirs, I am excited to shoot their wedding on Howard’s campus!

When we were planning for their engagement session, I threw out the idea of shooting around the Cherry Blossoms since they were nearing peak bloom.  Well, I have never been to DC during this time but I’ve always heard about the massive crowds.  Ashley confirm that it does indeed get very crowded but was interested in shooting their as well! I let her know that the best way to navigate the crowds would probably be to have a sunrise session. They admitted they aren’t morning people but would be willing to take one for the team and made the commitment to meet me at 7am near the Tidal Basin.  Well, I now know just how popular this introduction to Spring really is in the Nation’s Capitol!  When I arrived at 6:25am I snagged one of the last few available parking spaces and saw loads of people hopping out of cars to claim their spot right before the sun started to rise. It took us a few minutes to find each other. We were both walking down Ohio Avenue but never ran into each other. Who knew that Ohio Ave was in two locations near the Tidal Basin! We jumped right into our session because the crowd was already massive.  I appreciate Keith and Ashley being a good sport for the cause!

When I asked them about the early stages of their relationship, they have two different versions of how they started dating.  One version involved Facebook stalking!  At any rate, the ‘stalking’ and poking worked because they will declare their love in front of their family and friends in a few months!  For the second part of their session they wanted to go to Old Town Alexandria because that was the location of the intimate proposal.  I love when my clients bring sentimental items or locations into their sessions because it makes the session more personal and means more than just a few pretty photos at different locations around town.

These two crack me up and I am truly looking forward to documenting their wedding!  Here are some of my favorite images from their session!